Point and Howl Dog Training

07/08/2025

Don’t wait for your dreams to come true — bring them to life.

I’m over the moon.

07/03/2025

!!!

This is a repost(ish) but well worth repeating. Many of you have heard me harp on harness fit time and again. Having spent decades evaluating harness fit in working dogs of all types with thermal imaging (as well as having years of working and active dog experience combined with a strong biomechanics knowledge base) using front-clipping or "Gentle Leader" type harnesses only guarantee more structural stress in active dogs that makes for more work for me and other chiro/sports med colleagues. PLEASE only use harnesses that fit with proper ergonomics! [NOTE: I've tweaked the English & syntax in the added-on description below so it might read a little differently.]

"All dog owners should know this fact! A harness like this is a terrible injustice to your pet!! AVOID USING THIS TYPE OF HARNESS !

In a dog's forward movement, a harness with a tape that crosses its chest from side to side hinders it in the same way humans would bother going hiking with an elastic band holding their arms. Physiological movement of the front extremity is prohibited. Just like rubber would inhibit the pendular movement of our ARMS.

Thanks to the "Study of Canine Movement at the University of Jena", we now know that in the dog, the center of rotation of the front limb is at the top of the scapula, but in the human the center of rotation in the arm is in the shoulder. Jena's study demonstrates, among other things, the importance of scapular movement for dog locomotion. Now we understand the importance of taking into account the free movement of the dog's shoulder when choosing a chest harness.
That means there SHOULDN'T be bands across the scapular (orange) area, and they shouldn't cross the chest side to side either.

From the point of view of biomechanics and physiotherapy, it is recommended not to choose getting harnesses that have a strap that goes through the chest laterally, or that have straps that touch or press the scapula.

Always lean towards harness models with ERGONOMIC design, to allow maximum freedom of movement for your dog, improve his well-being and safety during his walk.
Source : REAL CEPPA"

06/24/2025

When chaos is my peace… I love working with tiny predators.

06/22/2025

Best part of my job — raising puppies!

06/21/2025

I love Arizona!

06/20/2025

It’s easy to believe that with the right training, any dog can become confident, social, and capable - but it’s simply not true.

I work hard to produce dogs who are genetically equipped for success before training begins. You can shape a lot through experience, but you can’t teach a dog to have full, hard grips. You can’t easily train away weak nerves. And no amount of exposure will truly fix an unstable temperament.

Pictured: Biene v Weisenstein, Marco v Landgraf, Inka v Schwarzen Kobold

06/08/2025

!!!

To bring everyone up to speed, there is a toxic, social war going on between the Pure Positive/Force Free movement and Balanced Training. One of these bodies is massively funded and out to dictate how you train your dog. But don’t get fooled by the pretty language and perfectly-placed buzz words..

“Animals have never learned through punishment or consequences”
“Don’t train with pain”
“Reward what you like, ignore what you don’t”
“Dominance and force in dog training creates stress and fear”
“This dog just needs medication”

I’ll be honest, “Positive-only” sounds pretty great on paper, but practically? Not so much.

News flash: “Purely Positive” anything doesn’t exist. Life, parenting, career, school, nature, it all has consequences and it all has pressure. And if you want to talk about the quadrants of consequences, There’s FOUR. Yep, PP/FF peeps pick and choose which quadrants they want to train with. Balanced trainers use what works. We implement a holistic approach.

Rewards = information
Punishment = information

Information and communication are how dogs (and humans) learn. Punishment is NOT abuse.

If I’ve lost you in all of this chaos, allow me to break it down: Rewarding a behavior will encourage repeating, punishing a behavior will deter. These PP/FF folks are trying to change that.

The ban on these tools is coming. The ability to train how you want is being argued. The ability to use certain tools is being argued. The ability to say “no” to your dog is being argued.

So this post is to raise awareness as to what’s going on out there. I’m sharing my thoughts and stories because spreading the truth, sharing content and success is how I bring value to this community. My clients and followers are my motivation. I believe in these tools because I’ve seen them work, time and time again. Believe me, we were there one day. Stuck, stressed and struggling feeling like everything we tried with our dog wasn’t working. Trainers had failed us and it was incredibly crippling.

These tools and training methods have saved my dogs lives along with so many others, and I don’t want that to be taken from us. This current debate has really taken away from the dogs (and the training). Have we forgotten our mission? To help dogs, to clear shelters and empower owners to succeed.

Myself and all other balanced trainers have to deal with the constant hate, negativity and criticism from the PP/FF body. “Death before discomfort” is especially unsettling to me, and this idea is the reason so many dogs are being killed for no reason.

It’s time we stand up and share our success. Our rights are being stripped and our dogs are suffering.

P.S. Any hate or bashing will not be deleted, rather exposed. So watch your words :)